Domains of parental involvement and academic achievement across grade levels in the Chinese context

ABSTRACTThis study explored the relationship between domains of parental involvement and students’ academic achievement in elementary, middle, and high schools. The participants were 121,635 students in China. Results from multilevel linear models indicated that the relationships between domains of parental involvement and students’ academic achievement differ by grade level. In elementary schools, students with higher degrees of parental involvement in study performed better, whereas parental involvement in daily life was not related to academic achievement. In middle schools, academic achievement was unrelated to parental involvement in study or daily life. Students whose parents paid more attention to their daily lives but less to study scored better on academic achievement tests when it comes to high schools. This study suggests that parents should provide appropriate types of support for their children at various developmental stages.KEYWORDS: Developmental stagesparental involvementacademic achievementChinese contextcompulsory education Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2023.2256989Additional informationNotes on contributorsTianxue CuiMs. Tianxue Cui is currently a second-year doctoral student at the Faculty of Education, University of Macau. Her research focuses on large-scale assessment and family education. She is interested in topics such as educational evaluation, assessment, parental involvement, and educational reform.Chuang WangDr. Chuang Wang is Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Macau. His expertise includes educational research design, statistical data analyses, and program evaluation. He has published 7 books, 19 book chapters, 140 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 12 conference proceedings.Qimeng LiuDr. Qimeng Liu is a lecturer at Beijing Normal University. His research focuses on mathematics education. His publications appeared in top journals in the field of mathematics education. Dr. Liu examined the relationship between problem-raising and self-efficacy on mathematics during his doctoral program. He is also establishing the index system of education innovation in China, which aims to make a contribution to the field of educational innovation.Jian LiuDr. Jian Liu is a professor of Beijing Normal University (BNU), the deputy director and chief expert of Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Education Quality at BNU. He is also the Dean of China Education Innovation Institute, the director of The Central of Jiusan Society of Special Committee on Education and Culture, the state superintendent of schools in China, and the chief editor of New Century Primary School Mathematics Textbooks. His areas of research include mathematics education, educational innovation, and educational evaluation. Dr. Liu has published in the top-tier journals such as the Journal of Educational Psychology.